Designing an easy enemy from a Aesthetical/Mechanical/Dynamical View

I am going to be blogging a bit about this menacing monster called Sky Glaucus ( Although the fact is, it is rather harmless)

How did we design an easy enemy, and why?

The Sky Glaucus will be the very first enemy you face in the game. 

It will be one of the easiest enemies to face in our game.

What we had to be very careful about when creating this enemy was to not make it seem as it would do a lot of damage, but also we had to convey at least some sort of threat.
And it is one hit one kill when the player shoots.

So the very first design decision we had to make was to focus on a look that would convey just that, relatively harmless, but somewhat of an intimidation.

So one of our artists drew a few concepts, trying to capture the original concept feeling.

And what I had to do was to make an important decision.

Here were my options that our graphics designer provided, and I will explain the choice that I made

I will call them out based on their location in the picture.(Bottom-Right etc)

My immediate reaction was that I really liked the Top-Right, although it felt far too menacing to have that as a choice. Because I cannot make design decisions based on the fact that I enjoy a certain aesthetic. It Has to fit into the idea of the enemy and what has been written into the User-Stories.
So my choice was still not clear, Bottom-Right looked too puny and perhaps too dark to fit in with the concept of the game. One thing to note is that these creatures are able to levitate with the force of the crystals. So the amount of crystals would indicate its power. So after some thought and reasoning I came with the conclusion that the Top-Left would suit the idea of an easy enemy perfectly.

Now then, how will the enemy act?

The User-Stories that were provided for the entire team to discuss.

And keep in mind, these are not set in stone.

1.As Sky Glaucuses

We will move slowly and in formation towards the player

Because we want to stress the player with multiple enemies

2.As a Sky Glaucus

I will fly towards the player and die

Because I want to damage the player with my impact.

3.As a Sky Glaucus 

I will do a small amount of damage 

Because I am very fragile

With this information both the Programmers and Graphics can understand how they would proceed with the their designs. 

And so the Sky Glaucus has come to life, and all things that live must die. 

What I mean by that is that even the death aspect had to be designed.

So I discussed with the Graphics and we decided that it would fall to its death once it has been hit either py the players projectiles or bumping into the player ship. 

This is what we came up with

We wanted to convey a certain sense of failure in the Sky Glaucus, because it is supposed to be quite puny and fragile it would make sense that it just flips over and dies while the center of mass is pointed downwards. 

That is how we designed a relatively easy enemy.